Cards waste Carpenter’s start, Tony shares his stamp with Pujols

Even though Chris Carpenter pitched a 1-0 complete game shutout against Roy Halladay in game 5 of the NLDS, I thought the performance he gave last night was even better. He didn’t have his best stuff, as his fastball kept running up and away or down and away. He located it well at times, but struggled through 4 innings with it, before being able to locate it. Playing in Texas against a deeper lineup made it all that more impressive. I might be the only one who feels this way because we lost, but so be it.

The Cards had every opportunity in the world in Game 5, but could never find the clutch hit when they needed to. The Cards finished 1-10 with RISP. Even with that, they had the score tied a 2-2, and again, Carp got them to the 8th inning and kept them right in the game.

To start off the night in the first inning with 2 outs and none on, the king Albert Pujols swings at a 3-0 pitch and pops out to CF. First of all, the pitch was ball 4. Secondly, why in world does Pujols or anybody for that matter get a green light on a 3-0 count? I went back and looked at the data for swinging at 3-0 counts this year and here’s what I found. First, when a batter swings at 3-0, they hit .262. If you take out all of the singles, batters hit .161. Why is it important to take out the singles? Because more than likely if you’re patient you’re going to end up at first base with a walk anyway. Batters who took 3-0 pitches went on to have an OBP of .483. Batters who swung at 3-0 had an OBP of .297. Any hitter is going to get a good pitch to hit on 3-1 as well, and if not, you take your walk to help the team. You also make the starting pitcher throw at least 1 more pitch, and isn’t the job of any team to try and get that guy out of the game ASAP? Instead, C.J. Wilson gets out of the first inning with 9 pitches, and we will never know how that might have changed if Pujols would have started a rally by just being a team player and taking a walk. But that’s not Albert Pujols. It’s only about one team to him, it’s about TEAM PUJOLS. He’s really starting to remind me of Willy Beaman from “Any Given Sunday” in that his only agenda is to “get his dollars up”.

In the 7th inning, the first bizarre thing happened. Allen Craig draws a walk, and then I saw something I’ve never seen before in my 30+ years of watching baseball. Pujols, now apparently managing, decides to give Allen Craig a signal that a hit and run is on with a 1-0 count. Craig had to explain it to LaRussa in the dugout afterwards, and the only reason you didn’t see LaRussa get emotional over it was because it was Pujols that called for it. Any other player would have been benched, or released this morning. So Alexi Ogando throws a ball, what would have been at the head of a left handed hitter, Pujols doesn’t swing to protect the runner, and Craig is nailed at second.

The bizarro world is just getting started in this game however. There are two moves here that make no sense. One, Lance Lynn is brought in the game and wasted to intentionally walk a right-handed hitter and then be removed from the game. Also, Tony leaves Scrabble in the game to face the Rangers most dangerous weapon in Mike Napoli. I guess since Scrabble got a couple of right handed bench players out on strikeouts earlier in the series, Tony thought he could get Napoli, the Rangers hottest hitter by far. For a manager that is absolutely nuts about having lefty vs. lefty and righty vs. righty matchups, he fails to make a change at the most critical point of the game with the bases loaded. Of course Napoli gets a 2 run double and wins the game for the Rangers. I’m not so sure I see the future for Scrabble as a starter like I keep hearing about. He’s been great as a LOOGY, and aside from a few instances, has been terrible against righties.

Even with the Napoli go ahead hit, the Cards had their chances in the 9th. Leading off the inning was Craig, who was hit on a curveball by the Rangers closer Neftali Feliz. Once again the golden boy was up, and Cards fans got to witness the worst possible scenario. For some reason, Allen Craig was running on a 3-2 count, and instead of Pujols playing team ball and taking a walk on a pitch that was 2 feet outside, he decides he has to try and put his stamp on the game and swing the bat. The Cardinals two biggest stars in Tony and Albert, trying to do what they do best, and put their stamp on the game. It’s that simple folks. Matt Holliday follows the Pujols AB with a walk, so instead of the Cards having the bases loaded no one out with Lance Berkman up, it’s one on and two out. If the bases would have been loaded, Berkman would probably have seen plenty of pitches right down the middle to launch. Instead, Feliz gets to pitch him tough, and strikes him out to win the game. David Freese would have been a certainty to hit in the 9th as well, if not for Pujols.

To sum it up, except for his game 3 heroics, Albert Pujols has done exactly what I thought he would do the rest of the series. He’s played for TEAM PUJOLS, not the Cardinals, and delivered exactly no hits in any of the other 4 games. I guess I won’t be hearing from the Pujols fan club today, I’m assuming you all are hiding in the corner sucking your thumbs. You all will come out when the Cardinals let him walk and cry about how the Cardinals will be lucky to finish in the top 5 of the NL Central for years to come, but will be hushed up as soon as the Cards return to the 2012 playoffs without him. I don’t think John Mozeliak will be fooled like a few other GM’s will, and realize that Pujols really is on the way down. His 3 HR game was impressive, but not as impressive as it may seem. First of all, every starting player except Jon Jay had a hit in that game, but Jay couldn’t hit water if he fell out of a boat right now. The first Pujols HR was when the Cards were already up 8-6, and while I do think it was critical with the Rangers continuing to climb back in the game, the fact is his team was still in the lead. His last HR was when the Cards were up 15-7 in the 9th inning.

The Cardinals wasted one of the great performances of Chris Carpenter last night. Matt Holliday didn’t come through in the clutch either. I’m not going to jump on Holliday though, he’s not the one asking to be made the highest paid player in the game. He’s not the one in his prime as the best hitter in the game. He doesn’t jog to first base or flip the bat at home plate after a HR or a walk. He doesn’t stare at fly ball outs that die before the warning track. He didn’t turn down money and cut off negotiations with the team before the year started. He doesn’t take it upon himself to play the second manager of the team to Tony LaRussa. Albert Pujols does these things alone. Pujols says he wants to be respected and bunches that in with getting paid without saying it. He’s not fooling me, and hopefully he’s not fooling many of you anymore either. On Thursday or Friday we will see Albert Pujols for the final time as a player in a Cardinals uniform. I, for one, am happy with that. It’s time to move on, it’s time for a team game. It’s time to finally not have someone on the team only thinking about someone saying to him “Show Me The Money”.

I hope Albert Pujols comes up big in the last 2 games to give the Cards 11 in ’11. I just don’t see it though. I have this feeling that we are going to see Albert doing what he does best, admiring a ball 3 feet in front of the warning track because he thought he got it all, or jogging out a groundball to first base, giving someone on defense time to bobble the ball three times and still throw him out.

You’re going to eat so much crow once Pujols delivers in Games 6,7. I find it funny that you fail to understand the magnitude of the player in Pujols. You’re an idiot. Your bashing of him and TLR is getting old. Fuck you.

JD, while I would hate to see AP leave, I think it will be in the Cards best interest. I hope Tony sticks around a while. I’m as tired as his loafing as the next fan. Keep up the good writing, but try to take it a little easier on the Tony.

Go ahead and keep knocking the Cardinals. You wrote them off a long time ago. Yes, so did the rest of us, but TLR is the only reason that they’re back in the position they’re in. You’re going to feel really stupid when they go on to win this World Series and resign AP. There’s no way the Cardinals let him leave. He’s not all about the money, he is a man of God. How you constantly bash TLR and Pujols is beyond me. Who is about to be the second best manager in the history of baseball? FYI, Tony has enough confidence in Pujols to let him try things like last night, because he’s a once in a lifetime player. He is the BABE RUTH of our day!!! I guess you would rather have a team of David Ecksteins running around.

What good is a 3 home run game when you fail to deliver in situations where you are truly needed to help the TEAM? I’m sorry but the team comes first. We have played 4 games and for us to win the 5th and 6th, Mr Pujols needs to show his best. If he is walked, so be it. But knowing they probably aren’t going to throw any good pitches makes me think its idiotic to call a hit and run just as they did in the last game. Just leave the coaching to the manager and play ball for goodness sakes. I want to see everyone on the team play their position and hit the ball for goodness sakes. Let the manager screw up whatever he is going to screw up with making the calls. Lets face it, the current strategy, if there is one, isnt working.

Bluesfan,
So what if Pujols fails to deliver in a few games, even if it is game 6 and 7. His teammates should pick him up. And you do realize you’re watching the greatest player and manager of all time, right? Great, another idiot to go along with the blogger. Pujols has been underpaid his entire career, it’s time for the Cards to return the favor and pay THE MACHINE. You’re the reason Pujols wants to say Fuck you to all the fans, but I have to do it for him.

I dont care who is the greatest player or all time or who the greatest manager is of all time. Why are you so hung up on that? I want a world series win and if you’re the greatest player of all time, you’ll deliver in a world series.Those are the guys that make a difference. One game of home runs does not make for a great world series. Wanting a key player to deliver in the world series is not asking too much. If he is so wonderful, then he will deliver in game 6, which he will not. Mark my words. It also doesn’t call for a classless person like you to call names. As a paying fan, I have every right to say what I want. Pujols demeanor will not be tolerated in any other town. If he does’nt like it here well enough to accept a decent contract, then good riddance. Business decisions are not soley based on money. I just need to realize there are a whole lot of people like you in this town and perhaps someday you’ll open your eyes.

To the machine, why don’t you cool it down with the name calling. You can get your point across without it. I’m often asked about comparing Musial, who was my favorite player, and Albert Pujols. The problem is you can’t compare them because of money. Cardinal fans that want Albert here for life should really consider what’s going to become of the team when he starts to struggle if they sign him. We are not the Yanks or Sox. Pujols is going to get old just like all players, and his demands are way to high.

As for the playoffs, I think patience would be nice to see from Al. He’s supposed to be the team leader, but I just don’t see it, and until 2011 with Berkman coming in, it didn’t appear the Cards have had a leader in Pujols. I hope he does well enough to get us another WS banner, but I don’t think it’s going to happen. The Cards have blown too many games in this series they should have won. Nice site J.D., keep it up!

You said it all man. The team comes first. I’m so sick of the double standard that Pujols has versus all the other players. Pujols is not the reason we are where we are, and you’re right, you should let Tony do the managing. We are where we are because a few things were missing, mainly Furcal. Not a fan of the Colby trade long-term, but if it nets us a ring it was worth it. And to all you Jon Jay fans out there, do you need to see anymore before you can call him a bust? I frequent CardsTalk over at Stltoday.com a lot and the love for Jay, Pujols and LaRussa is beyond crazy. Someone over there pointed out your site Jd. I hope you don’t get sued for the way you blast Pujols and Larussa. I’m sick of reading other sites that only praise Pujols. Also to TLRHOF, get real man. The Cards should not pay Pujols for past performance, that would be the biggest mistake of all. When baseball comes back to the norm during the next 10 years, you will all realize that pitching wins rings, not firstbasemen.